


All I Want for Christmas

by SomeoneOutThereLovesYou_42 (PhinneasMcCheeser42)



Series: Dry Your Eyes (And Start Believing) [2]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Families of Choice, Gen, Non-Sexual Age Play, Sign Language, finally a verse Christmas fic, so fluffy death may result after reading, took me long enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-08 02:30:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5479916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhinneasMcCheeser42/pseuds/SomeoneOutThereLovesYou_42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's regular Christmas, and then there's little Christmas, too. </p><p>(Please heed the tags -- very G-rated, but if it's not your cup of tea then don't read!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I Want for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tekawitha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tekawitha/gifts).



> I have a bunch of unfilled (but for the most part, at least partially written) requests for this verse, I know, and I'm working on those. School is kicking my butt. In the meantime, though, here's something fluffy to make your heart feel all warm and fuzzy this holiday season. 
> 
> Thanks as always to Patri, Mary, Elise, and Sophie <3
> 
> To my dearest Mary -- Merry Christmas and all my love forever <3 thanks for being the best shelf I ever could've asked for.
> 
> The poem Ray reads is Robert Frost's "Dust of Snow," and shockingly enough, I don't own it.
> 
> (This takes place the day after the Secret Santa gift exchange video from LotMS.)

They have a regular Christmas like regular people--or as close to it as they can get, what with them being a) on the road and b) in Europe. Nonetheless, they buy each other presents and Brian manages to get his hands on some low-rent coffee and candy from a corner store. They guess presents and laugh and get high on sugar and cheap caffeine, and at some point Gerard promises to buy a hamster. They think. By the time they fall asleep the place is completely trashed (much to Brian's disapproval) and they've fallen asleep in various awkward and uncomfortable-in-hindsight positions around the trailer. 

All in all, it was fantastic. 

Brian wakes up to Ray shaking his shoulder gently. He sits up, rubbing the grit out of his eyes as he realizes that he must've fallen asleep on the chair. Now that he can see properly, he notices that while Ray and Bob are fully awake, Frank is still sprawled across the couch and Gerard and Mikey are curled up on a pile of soft things in a corner. Ray lifts a finger to his lips as though sensing Brian's thoughts. "We've got something planned for the little ones," he whispers, and Brian nods. He'd had a feeling something like this was going to happen and he'd packed accordingly. 

"I brought some things," he says, and Bob sends him a rare grin. 

"We hoped you would."

The three begin to straighten up the room, making as little noise as possible. Frank and Mikey never move, but Gerard stirs once, opening sleepy green eyes and making a confused snuffling noise when he sees multiple people moving around and with no intention of waking him. In a second, Ray is at his side and leaning down to stroke long raven hair away from his face. "Shh," he coos, "go back to sleep," and Gerard somehow understands that he's supposed to be little because he does as he's told almost instantly.  His eyes close and he curls a little tighter around Mikey as Ray pets his hair and whispers about the hamster they'd been planning to buy, and he's asleep hardly a minute later.

"You're good with them," Brian observes, and Ray stands to his full height once more.

"So are you," he says simply.  

Fifteen minutes later, they decide that the trailer is clean enough and begin taking out the presents they hid the night before.  They actually take care to arrange them this time instead of just throwing them down underneath their tiny fake tree the way they did last night, and once they're satisfied with the way things look Bob procures a shiny silver star for the top of the tree.  

"Stacy made cookies," he says after they win an epic mini-battle against the silver twist ties at the bottom of the star. Ray nods.

“Awesome. That’ll make Frankie happy.”

Bob snorts. “As long as someone’s moderating his sugar intake.”

Ray pats his shoulder. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“Among other things.”

Ray allows himself a little laugh as he thinks back over everything that’s changed over the past eight months and how everything’s different now (the good kind of different) and how he fits into that. “Yeah,” he says. “Among other things.”

* * *

 

Frank wakes up around eleven, blinking in confusion when he sees the new decorations. “What—“

“Merry Christmas, Frankie,” Ray cuts in, grinning when Frank’s eyes widen in realization of what his friends have planned. His gaze wanders the room, taking everything in. Unlike Gerard, who usually meditates to fall into his headspace, and Mikey, who almost always needs encouragement from someone else, Frank goes into littlespace by examining his surroundings through the eyes of his little side. When his eyes, big and shining, wander back to Ray several minutes later, the guitarist gets a strong feeling this is one of his better ideas.

“Ray! Ray! It’s Christmas!” Frank shouts, jumping forwards into Ray’s already-open arms. “It’s Christmas it’s Christmas it’s Christmas!”

Ray laughs, hugging Frank tightly. “I’m glad you’re excited, sweetheart. You wanna get your brothers up and we’ll have breakfast?”

Frank bounces over to the sleeping Ways and Ray turns to Bob, shaking his head. “So this is good?” Bob asks under his breath, still unsure, and Ray nods.

“This is good.”

“Gee! Mikey! Wake up! It’s Christmas!” 

Gerard wakes up confused like Frank, but he too catches on pretty quickly. Ray gives him time to close his eyes for a few minutes, gently leading Mikey over to the other side of the small room where he can talk to him quietly. Frank waits, aware of how important it is to let his friends fall into their headspaces on their own, but patience has never been his strong suit and he’s practically vibrating all over by the time Gee opens his eyes. 

“Merry Christmas, Frankie,” he giggles, and Frank tackles him backwards onto the pile of pillows he slept on the night before. The two play wrestle for a few minutes, heeding the warning “Gee, be careful with your little brother!” from Ray, before Mikey walks over shyly. 

“Mikes!” Gee says, voice bright, opening his arms and welcoming Mikey into them. “It’s Christmas! Are you excited?” Mikey nods against his shoulder, and Frank squeaks in happiness.

“This is gonna be the best Christmas ever,” he declares, and there’s so much confidence in his voice that it leaves no room for doubt in the minds of anyone else.

When Brian walks in a few minutes later with breakfast, which is really just takeout waffles, eggs, and bacon, he’s hailed as a conquering hero. “Woah there, let me put the food down before I drop it all!” he says while attempting to maneuver around Frank, who’s literally jumping up and down in excitement. “Merry Christmas to you guys, too! Are you excited?” 

“Super duper!” Gee exclaims, and there’s genuine happiness in his smile. It makes Ray relieved-silly-happy. He thinks it makes Mikey feel the same way as he watches his youngest stare adoringly at his big brother. 

Breakfast is messy. There’s just no other word for it—Ray spends more time wiping syrup off of sticky chins and fingers than he does actually eating, but that’s okay. He cuts Mikey’s waffle and bacon into pieces for him, then helps Frank cut his own, and by the time they’ve finished there’s a pile of used paper towels (which work just as well as napkins and cost less) lying on the counter and three protesting boys being led to the bathroom to wash their hands and faces. 

“This really was the best Christmas ever,” Gee says softly to Ray after they’ve finished and settled down, smiling up at him, and Ray feels his heart melt right into his shoes. 

“I’m so glad you think so, Gee,” he replies as he reaches down to grab and squeeze his oldest’s hand. “…So, then, I suppose that means you won’t be wanting your _presents_?”

"Presents!" Frank shouts with a grin, clapping his hands and bouncing over to sit on Ray.  Gee and Mikey are both wearing mirror expressions of surprised delight, and Bob shakes his head at the both of them as he disappears into the back, probably for blankets. Brian is surprised when Gerard leans up against him and more surprised when his instinctive reaction is to wrap an arm around the singer and pull him close, but Gerard doesn't react except to rest his head on Brian's shoulder. Mikey clambers over and plops himself right down in Gerard's lap, and Gerard seems like he was expecting it. Instead of being surprised, he just adjusts himself so Mikey can fit more comfortably and twines the fingers of his left hand with Mikey's, palm to back. Bob comes out with the blankets and starts tossing them around, and finally they're all comfortable. 

" _Now_ presents?" Frank asks, and Ray laughs at his eagerness, wrapping his arms around Frankie and hugging him tightly. 

"You bet. How about Brian goes first?"

Brian pats Gee's shoulder before standing and walking over to the tree, grabbing his presents out from underneath it. His gifts are all awkwardly wrapped, partially because they're not in boxes but mostly because he sucks at wrapping things. "Who's going first?" he asks, and no one really responds at first.  

"We'll take turns," Ray says decisively. "Gee can go first this time." So Brian hands a bundle to Gee, who grins up at him as he unwraps it. When he sees the stuffed black-and-yellow bee inside, his grin grows impossibly wider. 

"Thank you, Brian!" he chirps. In a chaotic sequence of movement that somehow results in zero injuries for the involved parties, Gee reaches up to hug Brian while Mikey folds himself over so that he's not in the way and Brian leans down to hug Gee. Frank laughs when they pull it off and when Mikey comes back up, glasses and hair askew. Gee fixes the glasses and pets Mikey's hair into place. "There ya go, Mikes," he says, and Mikey ducks his head shyly. 

Frankie tears off the wrapping paper as soon as Brian hands him his gift, actually squealing when he pulls out a stuffed gold Lab puppy. “I’m gonna love it forever!” he shouts, jumping up to climb all over Brian in a show of love and gratitude. Brian, stoic as always, bears it with a tolerant smile and a ruffle of Frank’s already-ruffled hair.

And then there’s Mikey. He opens his carefully, taking his time with the wrapping like he wants the experience to last as long as possible. When he finally unearths the fluffy snowy owl hidden beneath the paper, though, he doesn’t need any words—his bright grin is more than happy enough. He signs _perfect_ to Ray and smiles and smiles and smiles, and Ray thinks to himself that they need to do this every year.

“What do you want to name them?” Ray asks, and Gee bites his lip thoughtfully. 

“Rosalind,” he decides, stroking the fuzz along the bee’s sides.  Ray nods. 

“A lovely name. How about you, Frankie?”

Frank is hugging the stuffed puppy so close to his chest that he and it seem to have become one. “Moose!” he declares loudly, and Ray blinks. By this point, he’s more or less unfazed by Frank’s tendency to live in his own world when he’s in littlespace.

“All right. Moose it is. Is Moose a boy or a girl?”

Frankie furrows his brow.  “Just Moose.”

Ray doesn’t push it. He thinks he knows what Frank’s getting at, anyway. “That’s awesome, Frankie. And Mikey?”

Mikey’s quiet for longer than the other two, staring at his owl. He’s clearly deep in thought. “Homer,” he says finally. Everyone smiles when Mikey speaks.

“That’s super cool, Mikes,” Gee says with a grin, and Mikey smiles back at him.

Bob gets one gift for all three of them, but it’s so big Gerard almost shouts. It’s a gigantic, fluffy blanket in a restful shade of blue, and it’s absolutely _perfect_ for cuddling under. Ray mouths _thank you_ as his boys take turns wrapping each other up in the blanket’s seemingly endless folds. Bob shrugs it off, but there’s what could be called a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Ray gets a book for each of his boys— _A Little Princess_ for Gee, who nearly jumps for excitement when Ray tells him it’s because “you’re _my_ little princess;” _The Complete Poems of Robert Frost_ for Frankie, who loves poetry and who took one look at the inside and hugged it close before softly thanking Ray; and a large illustrated hardback edition of _The Secret Garden_ for Mikey, who spends several minutes absolutely enchanted as he flips through the brightly colored pages.

He also gets them other things—new crayons and a _Finding Nemo_ coloring book for Gee, sidewalk chalk and a hula hoop for Frankie, and a sticker book and a finger-painting kit for Mikey. Their band might be something close to successful, but they’re none of them rich, and none of the presents any of them bought are hugely expensive. Ray realizes it doesn’t matter, though. The utter joy his friends get from their presents is more than he could’ve ever hoped for, and sappy as it sounds, he feels like his insides are all warm and cozy as he watches them explore their new treasures

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   

They lazily play the day away, alternating between making use of their presents and stuffing themselves full of breakfast leftovers and cookies. More than once, Ray finds himself snuggled on the couch with one or more of his friends beside him, listening spellbound as his fingers turn the pages and his voice brings their contents to life.

 _“The way a crow_  
_Shook down on me_  
_The dust of snow  
_ _From a hemlock tree…”_

When Ray thinks back on this, he wants to remember it as it is: warm and comfortable, easy and carefree, far from traditional but isn’t everything they do? He doesn’t want to forget this, doesn’t want to forget Gee’s grin when Ray compliments his coloring or Frank’s wild laughter when Brian tells a truly awful Christmas pun or the way Mikey giggles when Ray blows him a kiss. Ray’s heart is full and he’s happy, far happier than he ever pictured himself being when he first hesitantly agreed to look after Gerard in his headspace. It’s like every cliche Hallmark Christmas movie.

Then they realize Frank has been eating cookies for a steady fifteen minutes and end up spending the next half hour chasing him around, trying to convince him not to completely destroy the bus. And then while they’re distracted Mikey grabs one of Gee’s crayons and draws a Christmas tree on the wall (Ray is one hundred percent convinced Mikey only did this just to see what Ray would do). But it’s Christmas, so after one light scolding for Frank and one for Mikey, Ray can finally relax. Until, that is, Gee starts wailing because he cut his finger on a piece of paper, and will Ray kiss it better? And by the time band-aids and kisses have been distributed appropriately, Mikey’s eyeing the crayons again. Ray remembers listening to his mom talk about how hard it was to take care of three boys all by herself, and this time he understands it. 

Would he trade it for the entire world? Of course not.

 _“…Has given my heart_  
_A change of mood_  
_And saved some part  
_ _Of a day I had rued.”_

_~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_

It’s not until much, much later, when things have slowed down and the excitement has waned, replaced by sleepiness and an overall sense of _content_ , when Ray remembers that the night is no longer young but that his friends are (at least, mentally.) He spots Mikey’s sidekick on the table next to him (no texting is normally a rule during quiet time, but today was different and Ray just forgot, and it’s not like Mikey was using it at all) and leans over to check the time. It’s already almost ten.  He blacks out the screen and looks up.  Gee is blinking fiercely, and Frankie’s rubbing his fists over his eyes in an effort to stay awake.  Mikey’s already dozing, head on Bob’s shoulder. 

"I think it’s bedtime for little boys,” Ray says, and it’s a mark of how tired they are that even Frank doesn’t argue. 

“Will you sing?” Frankie asks, and Ray smiles at him.

“Of course I will. But we need to get you in bed first. So come on, up you get.” He makes a little rising motion with his hands and both Gee and Frankie stand up, Gerard yawning widely as he does so.  Rather than wake Mikey, Bob moves him just slightly so that he can get one arm behind his shoulders and one under his knees and scoops him up.  Ray frowns at this, because Bob really shouldn’t be able to hold Mikey like that so easily, but he files that under "discuss later."  Anyway, it’s really cute how tiny Mikey looks when he’s nestled in Bob’s arms.

Ray herds Gee and Frankie into the bunk area while Bob goes ahead of them, laying Mikey down in his bunk and tucking him under the covers before carefully exiting the space (it's not that he's not welcome, it's just that bedtime is something Ray always does).  “Say goodnight to your brother,” Ray says to his kids, though he doesn’t really need to prompt them to do so, and Gee and Frankie both walk over to the bunk where Mikey’s still asleep.

“Goodnight, Mikey,” Gee whispers, leaning down to kiss Mikey’s forehead the way he does every night when they’re little, and Frank repeats the action afterwards while Ray smiles. It's sweet and pure and innocent, and something happy swells up in Ray's chest like an inflating balloon. 

"All right, boys," he says. "Let's get you two in bed." He ushers Frankie and Gee to their respective bunks and tucks each of them in, patting down blankets and smoothing creases the way he's become so accustomed to doing. When both boys are snuggled under their blankets, warm and comfy, he sits down on the edge of Gee's bunk. 

"So what am I singing tonight?"

"Something Christmas," Frankie says with a yawn, blinking sleepily and staring up at Ray with huge eyes. 

Ray's about to ask him to be more specific when Gee mumbles, "'Silent Night.'" Ray looks over at Frankie to see if he objects, knowing that the younger guitarist has a somewhat strong aversion to religion, but he hasn't said anything and doesn't look upset, so Ray starts to sing. 

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright..."

Ray reaches over to run his fingers through Gee's hair as he sings. He keeps his voice soft and gentle. 

"Round yon virgin, mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild..."

Frankie's breathing gets deeper and slower. 

"Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace."

Ray leans down to brush a kiss against Gee's forehead, then moves to do the same to Frankie. Both of them are completely asleep, exhausted from their long day. "'Night, boys," he whispers. "Love you."

He stands up and walks as quietly as he can past his three sleeping boys and over to the light switch, flipping it and darkening the bunk area as much as was possible with the lights on the rest of the bus still on. It doesn't really matter—it’s dark out, and he and Bob and Brian won't be loud while they talk. _Maybe I really am turning into a parent,_ he thinks. Before he leaves, he takes one last look behind him to make sure all is well. 

It is. 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays, whatever you're celebrating this time of year! I hope you all make lovely memories with friends and family and enjoy your time off.


End file.
